Dr Vladlen Shvedov (L) and Dr Cyril Hnatovsky adjusting the hollow laser beam in their lab at RSPE. Image Stuart Hay, ANU
Laser physicists have built a tractor beam that can repel and attract objects, using a hollow laser beam that is bright around the edges and dark in its centre.
It is the first long-distance optical tractor beam and moved particles one fifth of a millimetre in diameter a distance of up to 20 centimetres, around 100 times further than previous experiments.
“Demonstration of a large scale laser beam like this is a kind of holy grail for laser physicists,” said Professor Wieslaw Krolikowski, from the Research School of Physics and Engineering.
The new technique is versatile because it requires only a single laser beam. It could be used, for example, in controlling atmospheric pollution or for the retrieval of tiny, delicate or dangerous particles for sampling.
The researchers can also imagine the effect being scaled up.
“Because lasers retain their beam quality for such long distances, this could work over metres. Our lab just was not big enough to show it,” said co-author Dr Vladlen Shvedov, a driving force behind the ANU project, along with Dr Cyril Hnatovsky.
Unlike previous techniques, which used photon momentum to impart motion, the ANU tractor beam relies on the energy of the laser heating up the particles and the air around them. The ANU team demonstrated the effect on gold-coated hollow glass particles.
The particles are trapped in the dark centre of the beam. Energy from the laser hits the particle and travels across its surface, where it is absorbed creating hotspots on the surface. Air particles colliding with the hotspots heat up and shoot away from the surface, which causes the particle to recoil, in the opposite direction.
The Latest on: Tractor beam
via Google News
The Latest on: Tractor beam
- Summerslam 2022 : Roman Reigns Wins As lesnar Destroys Ring With Tractoron July 31, 2022 at 12:50 am
WWE fans have seen countless main event clashes between Roman Reigns Brock Lesnar. But yesterday rivalry scripting took a whole new level comes ...
- Take a look at this £1m former barn for sale near Halifaxon July 28, 2022 at 7:02 am
This appealing and very spacious barn conversion is for sale within the Calderdale village of Shelf, and is surrounded by views of open countryside.
- PICTURED: Boy, 3, who died after being hit by tractor on farm as mother pay tribute to 'affectionate boy who loved to play'on July 17, 2022 at 2:13 pm
A three-year-old boy who died after a collision with a tractor on a farm has been named as Albie Speakman. His mother Leah paid tribute to her incredibly loving, affectionate and caring 'sunshine ...
- Antique tractor show planned at Coles County Fairgroundson July 13, 2022 at 4:15 pm
Events on both Friday and Saturday will begin with tractor games at 9 a.m., including a balance beam, followed by a tractor dynamometer horsepower reading demonstration at 10:30 a.m. and a tractor ...
- Review: Super UFO Fighter is a Beautiful Disappointmenton July 13, 2022 at 8:04 am
Fundamentally, though, this takes the tractor beam and physics-heavy object system of HAL Laboratory’s Part Time UFO and puts it into a head-to-head battle arena format. Your job is to root ...
- Racing pigs, a circus and lots of food as the Montgomery County Fair fun beginson July 9, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Owner Charlie Beam said training his domesticated six-month ... a performance by Gospel Explosion and truck/tractor pulls. And of course there were be the animal barns to visit, produce and ...
- Heads up: High-tech solution may end Tonawanda's notorious low bridge problemon July 7, 2022 at 3:37 pm
Tractor trailers keep smashing into the CSX ... Now, they say they have finally come up with a solution: laser beams. On Thursday, Rep. Brian Higgins, Assembly Member Bill Conrad and Tonawanda ...
- Dutch police shoot at tractor during night of farm protestson July 6, 2022 at 2:02 am
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch police shot at a tractor during a heated night of farm protests and detained three demonstrators, the latest incident in a string of protests against government plans to ...
- Woman shot in face for flashing high beams at vehicle, police sayon July 5, 2022 at 3:17 pm
FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA) – A Texas woman was shot in her car early Monday, possibly for flashing her high beams at another driver. The woman was driving along King Oaks Lane near Beach Street in ...
- Limos are so last year! Glammed-up group of pupils arrive at their prom in TRACTORSon July 5, 2022 at 8:02 am
The group of Year 11 pupils, from Gwynedd, decided to go down an untraditional root by swapping the classic limousine for tractors. As many pupils in the area come from farming backgrounds ...
via Bing News